Can we stop with the promotion threads?!

[BobbyjoeX]

yeah yeah but i more mean that the subs you get from sub for sub are most likely gonna turn into dead subs.

[BobbyjoeX]

the irony of this...

[KennethLopezJr921]

I've been noticing a lot more promotion threads more and more recently, ever since the discord became a thing (Don't know if that correlates though). Even though I've only been here for a few months, I feel like there was a lot more interesting topic threads back then. Now, whenever I scroll on through the forums looking for interesting threads, all I see (apart from the popular ones) are "sub 4 sub" "Share your series" "Lets grow to together" etc. Like one or two promotion threads, I can handle. But do we really need 100s of them. And from experience with these threads when I first joined, they didn't seem to do much in finding new viewers. Like in one of these threads, someone subbed to my series and then unsubbed hours later. I guess they were expecting me to sub to their series or whatever.

Glad to know Im not the only one who noticed this

[YS_og]

I am guilty of sometimes posting just to see, but as I still have long thought, NO ONE posting there EVER gets even 1 click. Go look. Pages upon pages of 0 click posts. I wish they would stop, too.

People posting religiously and 0 clicks. Maybe 1 out of 100 getting views this way at best.

Promoting OTHER'S work seems to work well.
So, what do you do if you're new? I'd say to keep updating and catch the fresh section algorithm, get a good cover, and join small discord communities to exchange reviews etc

[AureliusSnow]

Yeah the sub for sub ones are ehhh

[NickRowler]

First I was like "what promotion threads?" then I was like "Oh yeah, I muted all the threads in that category"

You can do this in your settings

[Swamp]

I think part of the problem is just how buried you get on tapas. I do think that most promotion threads end with people posting their work and not reading other posts, but I think some of that can come from creators feeling like getting a certain subcount is their only chance of even getting onto a page where somebody will discover their work.

[ar-ninetysix]

Same, I kinda forgot they existed altogether tbh. Every once in a while a few would pop up under a different category with a different catch aside from "post a link, get outta here, bye" but for the most part, I just thought all the promotion stuff moved over to the Discord

And that's funny, bc I'd assume promoting over there does practically nothing given the overwhelming amount of users doing the exact same thing

[NickRowler]

I blocked it because people would create identical threads because they believed that somehow they had more "power" if they were the OP. Like I was sick of seeing "Promote under 15" "Promote under 20" Promote under 25".

The mods for a time tried to tackle this issue but newbies continue to ignore it

[allenT]

Aah i remember a time when there's no 'promotion' category & you have to share your series in other threads to promote, at least contributing on the thread's topic.

[joannekwan]

Promotion threads aren't disallowed on the forum. The only time they become a problem is if one person creates multiple topics for the same series, resurrects an old thread, or spam promotes in inappropriate threads.

The Mega Threads were originally created during periods where certain topic templates were trending, like "Just Reached 50 Subs! Share Your Series Here!" and a ton of similar topics popped up.

Honestly, most of these promotion threads are created by relatively new users who don't have a good grasp of the community yet and think link dumping is the best way to promote. And I very much doubt they will look at this thread to heed peoples' complaints.

In reality, unless practical solutions are developed, we can't just close the promotion category for good. We could theoretically come up with guidelines to promote, like it has to be discussion-based or showcase an aspect of the series like a main character spotlight. But that still won't stop people from making link-dump topics just as how people continue to make collab threads that are really light on the details despite posting collab guidelines.

[BobbyjoeX]

yeah... that makes sense... guess i just dont want to see these new users waste their time and ultimately get disappointed in the end when those subs dont interact cause i know- we all know how frustrating it is

[powerplantanimations]

Hey thanks for making this post. I just started two weeks ago and if I'm being honest, I've been guilty of doing everything you've all been saying lol. My views have been skyrocketing, but I've noticed that a lot of the subscribers are from people who I engage with. Specifically with games, replies, or questions (I remember you from the cameo thread lol).

If I were to look for a solution, I'd say maybe promotion threads should only be created by the Tapas mods and no one else. That way advertising would be organized and people can understand the hustle.

Anyway, I apologize for anyone on the site if they're annoyed for seeing my link everywhere in link dumps and all that. I also apologize for making a "Let Us Promote" thread :v

I won't do that again. ALTHOUGH how do you guys feel about people just leaving links in questions or games when it feels necessary? Should it just be for games on Promotion orrrrr?

[fleurravenbooks]

I don't mind promotion threads (i use them often tbh) but i dislike when i see promotions in other topics , we really need promotions because it's easy to get lost in bunch of stories.

Also when i say we need them i mean create one, then comment on few, not create 15 just to promote (in spam of few minutes)

[feuersichel]

Maybe the solution would be, we can only create promotion topics after a certain amount of time or engagement with the forum? As I said, I like those threads myself thats why I don't want to mute them but they are getting out of hands.

[EncryptedWriting]

While I am guilty of promotion threads, I haven't done one in a while.

The only promotion threads I really support are people looking for stories/comics. I want to be able to find stories that pique my interest, and I want folks to share those stories.

[VibrantFox]

been watching the thread for a bit and i think it's clear the issue isn't promotion threads but promo threads that lack substance beyond being a link dump and then the sheer volume of said link dump threads

limiting it so that only mods would be able to make threads for the category wouldn't make for a solution nor would shutting the whole thing down or whatever but it's be nice if there were more encouragement or better ways to ensure ppl arent making tons of the same thread

like with regards to "recently updated" type threads there's usually a "post your latest page/post your latest chapter" thread for comics and novels on a per month basis; the current one for january 2022 is here

if folks wanna get genre specific i don't think something like "share your stories with uncommon genre" would do too well (i mean maybe but eh....) but instead be specific to the genre of the story be it horror, historical, comedy, anthology or whatever. maybe toss in a why you chose that genre or something you're looking forward to doing within it (i.e. subversion of some kind or mashing up genres or twist stuff and so on)

also encouraging discussions so it's not just promo also works and imo tend to be a little more memorable in terms of thread types. I think a good one recently was the worldbuilding questions thread. honestly i think more like this could come into play as well maybe with discussion on how folks have developed the characters for their stories, what their alignments might be and why, i think someone did a facts related to your characters that arent story relevant.

There's absolutely ways to make interesting threads but people have to be making those threads (and getting enough engagements before the autoclose kicks in) but also not so much incentivizing participation in these threads (coz imo no one owes you a sub or sub back) but finding a way to show that these are better for promo than the usual link dumps

Not to mention I'm surprised how accepting of plain ol link dumps folks are because who doesn't want an excuse to go on and on about their characters or their story's worldbuilding. Like you don't have to post spoilers but giving a hint of what can be expected in your works or showing off some of the thought that's gone into it can be way more enticing at times than just a link and your blurb

personally with regards to the whole promo flood going on here i just stopped caring since it doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon and people are gonna o what they want. and as much as people try to show the available incentives to joining the discord i've personally joined but it feels way too busy for me (i prefer the small ones ). but like i think it's possible for stuff to change beyond implementation of stuff like "spam prevention" but it'll take time and community effort tho that alone depends on whose got the time and is willing to put in effort

[TheLemmaLlama]

also encouraging discussions so it's not just promo also works and imo tend to be a little more memorable in terms of thread types. I think a good one recently was the worldbuilding questions thread. honestly i think more like this could come into play as well maybe with discussion on how folks have developed the characters for their stories, what their alignments might be and why, i think someone did a facts related to your characters that arent story relevant.

On the contrary, I find those threads don't really promote that much discussion as we all just talk about our own story wrt the topic and no-one else reads it (I don't mean this in a passive-aggressive kind of way; I myself am guilty of this :'D) At the very least, have shorter prompts imo which doesn't ask like 5 questions (which I guess usually means a more specific topic, like for instance 'food in your world' instead of 'worldbuilding' in general). Those threads are fun

[Lensing]

I think it got a bit better with the promotion threads, it helps when more people create different
kind of topics and also participate in topics which are not promotion threads.

I don´t have anything against the promo but sometimes it´s multiple topics under each other
which are basically all the same

[Skyscion]

I think promotion threads are helpful.
The number of readers for my books increased because of that.

But yeah, I believe only those interested in the work should sub it.
the sub for sub thing is annoying if nobody reads.

Rather, it's better if everyone promotes and if you find something interesting, you read it. The promotion subs are necessary for new writers to get more people to actually know and maybe try the stories out.